NOAH

Based loosely on the biblical "Noah's Ark", this movie starred Russell Crowe in the lead role of Noah, Jennifer Connelly as his wife, Anthony Hopkins as Noah's father, Ray Winstone as King Tubal-cain, Emma Watson as Ila and Logan Lerman as Ham. 

Noah's family belonged to a bloodline descended from Adam and Eve, who had 3 sons Cain, Abel and Seth after eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Cain was said to have killed his brother Abel and gave rise to savage and ruthless descendants, who were protected by fallen angels who turned into stone giants known as the Watchers, who continued their rampage to kill anyone and anything who were in their paths. Seth, on the other hand, was the good one who escaped and continued his lineage by living as nomads to protect earth and its inhabitants.

Noah received a message from the Creator through a dream which warned him of an impending great flood that would kill all men and signaled to him to build an ark to save what's left of earth's creatures. With the help of the Creator and the Watchers, Noah painstakingly built the ark but offended the king Tubal-cain, who was Cain's descendant, by refusing to accept him and his people on the ark when they came seeking for refuge. Tubal-cain vowed to seek vengeance on Noah and this very much summed up what the rest of the movie was about.

Noah was portrayed as a staunch believer of the Creator and he was fixated with building the ark and doing what he felt was necessary, including sacrificing the innocent and killing, to carry out the Creator's orders at all costs. But his conviction was tested and he wavered when he was forced to decide whether to take the lives of the newborn twins, from his eldest son Shem and daughter-in-law Ila.

This movie was banned in some countries because of its religious content, which was fictitiously controversial to some religions. I, for one, just enjoyed this movie as what it is - a movie.

Noah, his wife, Ham and Leo

Migration of the snakes to the Ark

Animals migration to the Ark before the pivotal flash floods

Ray Winstone as the evil King Tubal-cain

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

I don't know if it is me but I don't seemed to enjoy such comedy movies anymore. I felt de-sensitized to the jokes or humour these days. Starring Ben Stiller as the daydreaming Walter, who easily slipped into a daze or his dream world, everytime something unpleasant, challenging or exciting happened, to escape from reality.

Through the motivation of a colleague Cheryl whom he fancied, he broke out of his comfort zone in an attempt to salvage his job, and in the process found his purpose in life and won the heart of Cheryl. Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine, Kristen Wiig and Adam Scott were the other actors and actresses.

I couldn't remember anything memorable about the movie though.

SAVING GENERAL YANG

This movie about the famous and patriotic Yang General and his family has a Hong Kong, Taiwan and China cast ranging from Adam Cheng, Xu Fan, Ekin Cheng, Vic Chou, Raymond Lam, Wu Chun to Fu Xinbo. However, it wasn't very impressive and ended with the return of only one son without his father and 6 other brothers.

BACHELORETTE

This movie was compared to "Bridesmaids" by numerous sources. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, James Marsden, Adam Scott, Kyle Bornheimer and Andrew Rannells, this story is about a super-sized girl Becky who's getting married, much to the surprise of her bff Regan and other friends Gena and Katie, who were all roped in to be bridesmaids on her wedding day.

Kirsten Dunst was Regan, who was downright irritating. I didn't like Kirsten as Mary Jane in the Spiderman movies, and neither did I like her as a foul-mouthed, selfish and hypocritical girl friend of the so-called "pig-face" Becky of their high school class. The insecure Becky got Regan to be her chief bridesmaid to help organize her bachelorette party and wedding reception, but the latter with her pot-smoking friends Gena and Katie almost screwed up her wedding.

Fortunately, it all ended on a happy note although I wasn't too thrilled by it. I think, no I most definitely feel, that "Bridesmaids" has a much better storyline with more humour. What struck me when Kirsten and James first appeared on the scenes were how much they seemed to have aged. They no longer looked youthful with their now sagging facial skin and loss in mass. But then again, it is also happening to me. Time and tide really waits for no man.

MAGIC MIKE

Today's weather - sunny

The movie is based loosely on the life of Channing Tatum and tells the story of 30-year old Mike, with Channing as the lead of course, who works odd jobs in the day and as a stripper at night. Also starring Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez and Cody Horn, the movie did not thrill me at all.

Matthew McConaughey was as usual, a bit crazy in his looks and acting, which kind of scares me. The show was all about Channing and 19-year old Alex, who was the lead in the movie "I Am Number Four", who found the short cut in life to earn big bucks by becoming a male stripper. Matt Bomer, from the TV series "White Collar", and Adam Rodriguez, from the TV series "CSI: Miami", were nothing more than toppings on a cake, whose presence were hardly noticeable or memorable.

I was so bored although I stopped short of falling asleep during the movie.